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There's a great deal of weight attached to this story about optical alignment.  It was after Nationalisation when someone (apologies to him, I forget his name) moved to Doncaster from Swindon and introduced the use of optical alignment instruments when setting up frames and re-erecting engines.

 

I more recently read a memoir by another Doncaster manager who observed that after putting a loco back together with all this new technology they took it into the Plant yard and stood it on a curve, then measured it again and found that the frames had deflected ('bent' in layman's terms) by over an inch.  They did wonder how beneficial all this new accuracy was....

 

Mallard did 126 mph without the benefit of optics and the greatest performance improvements in Gresley's Pacifics resulted from long travel valves (now that they did borrow from Swindon) and the Kylchap exhaust arrangement.  Not that it was in any way detrimental, just not the great revolution some people portray it as.  It may have reduced the number of middle big end failures, but that may also have been due to improved design and lubrication.

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Harking back to the Hornby Terrier. One thing I didn't mention is the importance of a good runner. When I first changed to 0 gauge I bought a Pannier tank which ran reasonably well you know the odd bit of stuttering and a poke here and there. I was busy building a layout and didn't have time to build a loco as well. It was invited to a show and being short of stock ALan Brackenborough loaned me a scratch built 633 class tank and a coach built from Trevor Charlton sides. The 633 was a revelation it didn't stutter or need a poke would gently creep away and behaved impecably. I realised then  how much difference running quality made.  If and I believe it is an unknown at the moment the Rails/Dapol one is a better runner that is probably worth the £30 extra. 

   

Don

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2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Breaking news .... 

 

249301355_asteroid1.jpg.0bfe31c909989d263eb5d2e52dcabcaf.jpg

To be boringly clear about this, this particular "near" pass of a rock is nothing like near enough to be dangerous. It's topical for astronomers because there is a need to measure the orbit more accurately while it's close and bright. That way, we'll know if it will be a problem when it comes back, and closer, in the 2040s. C.f. Mr. Hancock who is close, not so bright, and will be back next week.

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12 minutes ago, Guy Rixon said:

To be boringly clear about this, this particular "near" pass of a rock is nothing like near enough to be dangerous. It's topical for astronomers because there is a need to measure the orbit more accurately while it's close and bright. That way, we'll know if it will be a problem when it comes back, and closer, in the 2040s. C.f. Mr. Hancock who is close, not so bright, and will be back next week.

 

"people in this country have had enough of experts"

 

M. Gove

 

:D

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3 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

"people in this country have had enough of experts"

 

M. Gove

 

People in this country have had enough of Mr Gove too...

 

Going back to your speckled coach body, I'm sorry to see that it didn't turn out as expected. I've fought shy of Shapeways due to cost and uncertainty of what might arrive, and I must say that the body confirms my reluctance to buy things that otherwise look "interesting". 

 

The finish reminded me of that mottled spray paint that is sold for repurposing old furniture.  To scale, naturally!

 

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1 hour ago, Hroth said:

I've fought shy of Shapeways due to cost and uncertainty of what might arrive, and I must say that the body confirms my reluctance to buy things that otherwise look "interesting". 

 

My impression is that the technology has moved on over the last couple of years, with cottage industry resin printing using more affordable machines producing better quality at lower cost, so that Shapeways and the like no longer have the edge.

Edited by Compound2632
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Seemingly random, but very interesting, photo of a 3ft gauge Bagnall surrounded by Victorian workmen https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=22242&PageIndex=1&SearchType=2&ThemeID=716

 

The link to CA is that is was sold to Joseph Boam, The Sand King of Norfolk, whose operations I'm sure we discussed somewhere here, as a side-ramble from the WN Mineral Railway and its relationship to the Wolfringham Branch.

 

The Achingverse really does need a narrow gauge industrial railway, and this sort of loco would be ideal.

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Shapeways's 'edge' was always a bit blunt since they were expensive and the quality wasn't particularly good.  It was only the fact that affordable home use 3D printers were not up to much at the time that gave them their niche in the marketplace.  Now though with the rise of home use Photon printers and their superior state of surface finish Shapeways's days might be numbered.

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2 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Seemingly random, but very interesting, photo of a 3ft gauge Bagnall surrounded by Victorian workmen https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=22242&PageIndex=1&SearchType=2&ThemeID=716

 

The link to CA is that is was sold to Joseph Boam, The Sand King of Norfolk, whose operations I'm sure we discussed somewhere here, as a side-ramble from the WN Mineral Railway and its relationship to the Wolfringham Branch.

 

The Achingverse really does need a narrow gauge industrial railway, and this sort of loco would be ideal.

Or narrow gauge passenger railway..? But if so, where?

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Just to change to subject completely there's been a discussion about pre-grouping era shops on the creator group I belong to and one of the members posted this 1915 paint colour chart.  I thought it might well be of interest to the parish.

 

550o1xC.jpg

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18 minutes ago, Annie said:

Shapeways's 'edge' was always a bit blunt since they were expensive and the quality wasn't particularly good.  It was only the fact that affordable home use 3D printers were not up to much at the time that gave them their niche in the marketplace.  Now though with the rise of home use Photon printers and their superior state of surface finish Shapeways's days might be numbered.

 

I think Shapeways still has its place, but not really in the model market. We use a similar (but UK-based) company for a lot of stuff at work, as their plastics have good mechanical properties if you're not looking for the ultimate surface finish. They're still very popular with propmakers and jewellery makers for the sheer number of materials they can produce in too. Bringing things back to railways, I have a half-formed suspicion that the Shapeways plastics might be good for loco chassis as they are quite robust.

 

I think Shapeways were as surprised as anyone that the model sector took off like it did!

Edited by TurboSnail
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Its really difficult to create a model of a typical English narrow-gauge passenger-carrying railway, and make it believable, because there was no such thing; the very few that existed were all highly distinctive.

 

Industrial lines are, IMO, better material for the fantasist imaginative modeller, because they were so ill-recorded, and because, while many were truly unique (bordering on the Rowland Emmett), a lot followed a pretty standard pattern. In Victorian times, the standard kit for shifting muck and minerals was a 3ft gauge railway equipped with inside-framed wooden side-tippers and some sort of 0-4-0 tank engine. The tank engines came from all sorts of builders big and small, but by picking one from a better-known builder typicality can be maintained.

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15 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Seemingly random, but very interesting, photo of a 3ft gauge Bagnall surrounded by Victorian workmen https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=22242&PageIndex=1&SearchType=2&ThemeID=716

 

 

For all the world looking like a load test after bridge repairs...  I suppose it was just the best place to get an all inclusive shot of the workmen, the locomotive and wagons.

 

17 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

The Achingverse really does need a narrow gauge industrial railway, and this sort of loco would be ideal.

 

13 minutes ago, Hando said:

Or narrow gauge passenger railway..? But if so, where?

 

Mr Ed would have to peruse his map of the environs, but I would like to suggest my "Midsomer Brevis" scenario of a light narrow gauge line meandering between field boundaries, created by a railway mad landowner and his friends to bring their produce from the rail-less hinterland to an interchange with the WNR after failing to interest any of the surrounding companies in their proposal.  The railway would have been built shortly after the Light Railways act of 1896 had been passed.

 

All I have to show of "Midsomer Brevis" at present is the scene from the 2018 Cakebox Challenge. 

 

 

This depicts the line when it had fallen into the hands of Railway Enthusiasts in the late 1950s....

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Its really difficult to create a model of a typical English narrow-gauge passenger-carrying railway, and make it believable, because there was no such thing; the very few that existed were all highly distinctive.

 

Industrial lines are, IMO, better material for the fantasist imaginative modeller, because they were so ill-recorded, and because, while many were truly unique (bordering on the Rowland Emmett), a lot followed a pretty standard pattern. In Victorian times, the standard kit for shifting muck and minerals was a 3ft gauge railway equipped with inside-framed wooden side-tippers and some sort of 0-4-0 tank engine. The tank engines came from all sorts of builders big and small, but by picking one from a better-known builder typicality can be maintained.

The J B White & Co cement works at Swanscombe (North Kent, there have been plans to build some kind of vast theme park on the site for years, but nothing's happened yet) had a big network using outside flanged wheels - not sure if anyone has ever modelled such a thing!  The gauge was around 3ft 6in, depending on exactly how you measured it.  Allegedly so that the space between the rails could be filled in solid making it easier for the horses which used to be used to pull wagons.  They had an eclectic collection of locos - one grandly named "Iron Horse" was followed by another of the same type named "Dead Horse".  I imagine some Victorian fitter said to Mr White, "If you ask me, guv'nor, it's flogging a dead 'orse to get any more of them...".

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Yes, well, Swanscombe was possibly the most "Rowland Emmett" of all of 'em .......... I was advocating typicality.

 

Even within the bounds of the typical, the locos could be pretty interesting, as per Boulton's Siding, or anything by Lewin., if the neat efficiency of Bagnall doesn't appeal.

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The artist was daydreaming about his next roast chicken dinner.

 

Tea advertising seems rather sedate. Biscuits (in which I believe my interest is known) are altogether more louche:

 

1193861494_HuntleyPalmers.jpg.826a3ea790d5246ae26787f49c6b5715.jpg

 

No corsetry there. This is English so still fairly restrained - try Biscuits Lefevre-Utile...

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2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Its really difficult to create a model of a typical English narrow-gauge passenger-carrying railway, and make it believable, because there was no such thing; the very few that existed were all highly distinctive.

 

This is why, rather than aiming for 'typical' I'm (well, a couple of mates and I are) devising my (our) own distinctive NG system. Built by the SECR, closed under BR - Quite implausible but should be nonetheless interesting.

IMG_20200423_220015.jpg.c3670c984280bd531928420744ff9681.jpg

IMG_20200423_215918.jpg.f0766359d402fb82327a51807f7f3b6b.jpg

The layouts are to be set in the late-1930s, so the story of that Push Pull set is that it was formed in 1935 using redundant L&B stock. We have Maunsell and Bulleid stuff in the making too though...

1588170962600-586341519.jpg.1890452d1136e1080e0171ffcd30f17c.jpg

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3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

My impression is that the technology has moved on over the last couple of years, with cottage industry resin printing using more affordable machines producing better quality at lower cost, so that Shapeways and the like no longer have the edge.

The thing about SW SFDP is that it gives better resolution than most (all?) PU printers and that it allows narrower structures without warping. For example, the gangway supports on the tramway coach would print perfectly in SFDP and would, I believe, be difficult to get right in PU. I can print think panels (<1mm) in SFDP and I think they would not be reliable in PU.

 

The problem with the SFDP is the flat areas, and that can be solved by printing simple kits rather than assembled vehicles. I hope to have tangible proof of that by early summer this year.

 

As for cost, if the PU printers were being run commercially, by salaried staff, I think the costs would be significantly higher.

 

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8 minutes ago, Guy Rixon said:

As for cost, if the PU printers were being run commercially, by salaried staff, I think the costs would be significantly higher.

 

Which is as much as to say, the cottage industrialists have significantly lower overheads - essential for small outfits in a niche market.

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29 minutes ago, sem34090 said:

This is why, rather than aiming for 'typical' I'm (well, a couple of mates and I are) devising my (our) own distinctive NG system. Built by the SECR, closed under BR - Quite implausible but should be nonetheless interesting.

IMG_20200423_220015.jpg.c3670c984280bd531928420744ff9681.jpg

IMG_20200423_215918.jpg.f0766359d402fb82327a51807f7f3b6b.jpg

The layouts are to be set in the late-1930s, so the story of that Push Pull set is that it was formed in 1935 using redundant L&B stock. We have Maunsell and Bulleid stuff in the making too though...

1588170962600-586341519.jpg.1890452d1136e1080e0171ffcd30f17c.jpg

 

That sounds rather interesting Sem, bit similar to my groups 7mm NG layout in terms of making it fairly distinctive: http://www.henmoredale.org.uk/ 

 

 

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